It's a Vivas Thing!

You are here: Home / Archives for Mama Vivas

Hobo Ministry

I wrote about the beginning of this ministry here if you scroll down under the pictures. The ministry was started out of B-boo's heart for the homeless. To be honest, I'm not sure if it's because we have a family member who had been homeless for a long time, or if it's because she just can't take seeing a homeless person on the corner and not being able to help them somehow. Regardless, God has place these people on her heart. She lovingly refers to them as hobos. She doesn't mean this in a derogatory way at all, so please don't take offense.

The beginning of the ministry started out with us searching for a water bottle in the van anytime we came upon a person on the corner. Then, she started having me keep water bottles in the van so that she could be prepared to give them something. Sometimes, if we had a snack type item in the van, we'd give that to them, too. If we happened to be at a fast food place, it meant we'd be getting them a meal. Still, it wasn't enough for B-boo.

We started talking and came up with the following idea. What if we had bags, prepared in advance, for them? They would be paper bags, filled with a drink, snack, hygiene items, and a personal note with a scripture attached.

B-boo presented her idea to our youth pastor and we began taking donations. The group came up with the following scripture, to be placed on a note card. One side is left blank so a personal message can be added.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:12-13

The first group of bags were assembled a couple of weeks ago. There were several students who participated in putting them together and taking them with them. We will assemble more this coming Sunday evening to take out again. I can tell you that it was great to be able to hand someone a bag of *treats* if you will, when they were not expecting it. The look on their faces as they realized someone had taken the time in advance to prepare for a small portion of their needs was priceless. I pray that they will learn of God's love for them through this ministry. I have no doubt that God will place those who He wants in our paths to serve them.

The ministry may go slow at first, but even if we only serve a few, God is able to use that! If we leave ourselves open to Him, He will use us for His purpose.

Right now, we are trying to come up with a name for the ministry. We can't keep calling it "B-boo's Hobo Ministry." I talked with a former homeless person who said that he liked the name and didn't find it derogatory at all. Hmmmm.

Names we have come up with so far are:

Curbside Caring

Caring for the Curb

Helping Hands

Hobo Ministry

Thoughts? Comments? Ideas?

For those of you who live in our city, donations are always welcome. We are looking for snack items such as granola bars, chips, fruit snacks, etc. Juice boxes and water bottles are also needed, as well as paper bags.

Hygiene items such as toothpaste, tooth brushes, small bars of soap, mouthwash, chapstick and gum are also welcome. For those of you who travel, please keep us in mind when you see the little bottles that the hotel leaves in the bathroom for you!

Donations can be brought to my home, or to our church. For an address, please email me at itsavivasthing@gmail.com

Randomness

That's kind of the way we are sometimes. OK, a LOT of the time. It's hard to keep up with us in a conversation, usually, because in a house of eight people, there are several conversations going on at once. It can be quite hilarious at times, especially when one does not realize the conversation has moved on without them, and they make a comment…that has nothing to do with what we're talking about anymore. Hilarious.

Another thing about us. We have a lot of funny inside jokes. We don't mean to. Honest. It's just that sometimes we'll be reminded of something funny that happened and make a comment…then we'll burst into laughter. The problem with that is that whoever else we are with doesn't get it. We don't' mean to be that way, honest.

Things like glow in the dark underwear and light bulbs crack us up. It will always be that way. One of our children burned their underwear once trying to make them glow. Underwear comments, spotting certain brands of underwear, make us laugh. Actually, underwear alone in our family would make a blog of it's own! Really! Superman underwear (I can't share that one, sorry!), April Fool's Day underwear (hubby's underwear was sewn shut as a prank…lots of them…hilarious!), wearing briefs outside talking to your neighbor thinking you have shorts on (that's hubby, too). Underwear makes us laugh.

You heartless jerk. That throws us into fits. We're a nice family and we don't go around calling people heartless jerks, honest. It's just that one night we were helping B-boo with similes homework. We were searching the internet, working together and laughing at things like, "cold as ice" and "raining cats and dogs" when all of a sudden, hubby turns around and shouts at, "You heartless jerk!" Apparently his search gave him that phrase…and since we don't use language like that, he scared us. And we went into fits of giggles over it…and well, now it's a staple of our language only we're the only ones that get it.

Unibrow cracks us up, too. Poor Drama Queen about had a fit one time because she noticed she had a unibrow when she frowns. 

Random quotes. Sometimes they show up out of the blue.

"But we likeeeee you." (Overboard)

"Anybody want a peanut?" (Princess Bride)

"Kids! Can't live with them, can't shoot'em!" (Grumpier Old Men)

We may sometimes seem unfocused. Not the case. Ok, this is usually me. I know what I'm saying and to whom I'm saying it; it's not my fault if they can't keep up. An example is this morning. I'm talking to hubby about something. The Drama Queen is showing me something while I'm listening to hubby talk. I say,

"That's gross!" to the Drama Queen.

Then I have to explain to hubby that "No, I don't think you're gross, it's the Drama Queen."

Things like that happen alot. I call it a gift, able to maintain a conversation with five different people at once. It's no my fault other's get confused!

Sometimes names get confused. Sometimes they are half one name and half the other. This simply means that whichever half I end on is the one I am talking to. The kids get it, that's all that matters. Hubby tried this out on B-boo last night. He mixed it up the wrong way though, and so it didn't work with him.

One of our children is a little slow at times. This causes "said child" to burst into an "OH, I get it moment" at random times. It's ok, we love her anyway and accept her just the way she is. 🙂

Sometimes I'm known to burst into rhyme. Some of the kids play along. Other's roll their eyes and whine, "Mommmm!"

Oh, and sometimes the Smart One and I will burst into jingles. He's better than I am and usually gives me the smile that says, "I can't believe I'm doing this with her again…she's so corny."

Faces. Oh, we have a lot of them in our home. Not always at the most convenient times either. I can usually tell if one is being made behind me though, because the person that is getting lectured I'm having a conversation with starts to have problems maintaining eye contact. Not cool.

Clumsiness…nevermind, let's not go there.

We can be serious when we need to…and act quickly if necessary.

This means 5 am phone calls and shouts to get upstairs immediately are followed. (It also means that you're hamster has been found.)

If Dad screams at you to call the Burford's, you do so immediately, without asking. When mom asks why and he shouts that he needs to find B-boo…and B-boo is dialing, you hang up. (Sorry, Mr. Burford, that crank call yesterday evening was us.) (We later found out that poor dad was on the roof and saw a auto accident happen. He knew his girls were probably at the corner at that moment. What he didn't know is that they had already made it home. And that B-boo was the one doing the dialing. Poor dad. Once he was calm, we had a good laugh.)

Sometimes not so smart things happen. For example, if the green bean casserole catches on fire in the electric oven…Dad still throws a pitcher of water on it to put it out. And then we say a special thanks that no one was electrocuted at the same time!

911 calls. A nice officer once told me that I had had three false 911 calls over a span of so much time. I know, officer, and I'm really sorry. And it may happen again, officer. You see, I have lots of children. and they call during non-emergencies to see if you'll really show up. I do tell them that's not good. If you'd like, I'll try to teach them to call during real emergencies…it's just that when they happen (and they do!) I usually am rushing them to the hospital myself because I've had so much practice I can do it faster than you.

Pranks. Big family, lots of pranks. This means be very careful if you are walking anywhere…because at any given time someone can jump out at you and scare the living daylights out of you. It means I'll find frozen tastebuds on the orange juice can. It means plastic bugs, snakes, spiders, etc….can be found at the most inopportune time. It means little ones shaving their lips. It means having your underwear sewn shut…or having confetti fly out of the air conditioning when you start up the van.

Chaos. You know, I'm not even going to go there!

Randomness. This is me, being random…about our randomness.

Poor Hubby

Poor Hubby had a bad weekend!

Friday night, the air conditioner started going out. He spent two hours on the roof trying to *rake* it and keep it from overheating. He twisted his ankle a good one, so was in a bit of pain, too. He had to get up early Saturday morning to pick up the audio visual stuff from the church and take it to the outreach program where our church would be feeding the homeless later that day, so he took the Talented One to his bowling and headed off. Once he picked up the equipment, he headed over. Poor man didn't need all the stuff he had picked up after all!

After the lunch and service were over, he headed home. Only he got lost. And then he hit something and the tire exploded. He tried calling some friends, me, etc…with no one answering his call. He finally found a place to pull over and change the tire.

The spare was flat, but it was better than the exploded tire!

He found a gas station to fill the flat tire. The air compressor was broke.

He goes to another gas station; same thing.

He drives to a third station; finally someone has air!

He finally makes it to the church to put the equipment back and do the A/V for band rehearsal for Sunday's worship.

Afterward, he gets home; air is completely gone now.

By the time we get home; it's really hot.

At midnight, we decide we can't take it anymore, so he heads to WalMart to purchase some fans. We're in luck, as they were on sale! He comes home, puts the fans together, and sets them up. We finally fall asleep.

Tonight, he tries to figure out what is wrong with a leaky sprinkler. Turns out its the whole valve system.

When it rains, it pours, poor man.

It's now Sunday night; we still have no air, and we're hot.

We Just Know…

Kids are funny. They think parents just don't know. But we do. I thought I'd put together some examples of what I'm talking about for today's blog. Feel free to add your own!

For instance, when talking to the Talented One and he replies, "Sure, Mom," what he really means is, "If it will make you leave me alone, I'll agree to anything."

When the Good Looking One calls and asks, "What are you doing tonight?" what he really means is, "I'm hungry and I'd like to have mom cook me a good meal while I hang with my family."

When the Princess comes to me and says, "I love you, Aunt Hope" it usually means she wants something, but doesn't want to ask.

When the Drama Queen comes up to me and asks, "What are you doing?" it really means, "Mom, I want you to do ***** for me."

When the Smart One jumps out of the van and says a quick, "Goodbye" what he really means is, "Mom, please don't embarrass me in front of anyone today." (I'm sorry, I can't help it, sometimes this other person takes control of me and I just have to whine shout out how much I'm going to miss him today!)

When B-boo says, "Mom", it usually means, "Mom, I already have (whatever I am looking for), so can we please go now?"

And then, there's the actions. I just love those.

For instance, last night, when B-Boo hurdled over me at lightening speed and dove for the back of the van, I knew there was a homeless person on one of the nearby corners and she was racing for a bag to give to them. Yup, he was on the right hand corner. And was he surprised to have a bag of goodies all ready for him.

This works for pets, too. When Roxy disappears, we know she's managed to catch yet another bird. So far, we haven't' been wrong!

When the Drama Queen put her hands on her hips and gives you that look, it means she is not happy with you at all…or she's thinking that you're pretty ridiculous.

Oh….and when she disappears upstairs after being talked to by mom, it's so she can go tell Daddy all about it.

When the Smart One gives you that smirk, it means he is trying really hard not to laugh at you.

And then there are those moments, when you can stop a child dead in his/her tracks and warn them not to even think about doing whatever it is there about to do. And they look at you in amazement that you know. Well, of course, silly!

One of my favorite memories of my oldest son is when I asked him about something one day out of the blue. He just looked at me in shock and asked, "Mom, how did you know?"

Well, son, you see, it's because I'm a mom…and we just know these things.

Laughable Moment #19

Apparently Chicken Noodle Butt was having issues this morning.

First, he came downstairs without getting dressed.

He was sent back upstairs to get dressed for school. 

He came back downstairs with a shirt full of paint and food that he had obviously not put into the dirty hamper.

He was sent back upstairs to get a clean shirt.

He came back downstairs with a different shirt. I thought it looked kind of weird because there was a white spot on his chest near the collar and was wondering how he had managed to get it there since he still hadn't brushed his teeth.

However, the boy only had one sock on his left foot, so I thought I'd deal with that first.

"How come you only have one sock on?"

Shocked look appears.

"Oh, I forgot to put the other one on."

He turns around and goes back upstairs.

He comes back moments later, two socks on his feet, black shorts and a tan shirt…with a white thing on it. I"m seriously trying to contain my laughter, because I'm sure it's hard to be five. So I ask him to come here.

He does.

The white thing is a tag; the kind that is a part of the shirt, not a flappy one that you have to cut off. I crack up. I'm sorry, I just can't help it. I ask him to please take off his shirt. He does.

His eyes widen.

"Aunt Hope, my shirt was inside."

We both laugh. I'm still giggling about it every time I picture it. What a way to start the day!